Argh! Sorry for the late update I've just been working on other stories, mainly my novel that I want to get published sometime in the future. Also school and graduation stuff have kept me busy and I've been working on my novel and my fictionpress stories and I just came back from my cabin. So again I'm sorry for the late updates. Anyway hope you like it.

Chapter 7: Just a Whim

The stars twinkled in the dark navy blue sky as the moon shined through the world below providing light for the nighttime creatures. Kagome and Inuyasha had stopped in a clearing protected by a circle of trees with a stream just a few feet from them.

"Okay they should be done." The young priestess said to her dog friend happily. The young prince watched her as she grabbed the two large fish away from the fire and handed him one before digging her teeth in hers'.

"Mmm yummy!" Kagome exclaimed brightly with a smile. "This is good!"
"Yeah." Inuyasha mumbled after taking a bite of his fish. "They are a lot better than our last catch this past afternoon." He then snorted. "Not to mention bigger."

"You said it." She motioned her mouth to the fish. "Beats eating apples practically everyday every single mealtime."

Inuyasha glanced up at her. 'Amazing how she was able to survive this long.' He ripped his fish apart. 'She seriously does have a lot of guts.'

"Man!" Kagome spoke up suddenly catching his attention. She rubbed her thighs. "My legs are killing me."

"Don't complain." He retorted gruffly. "Since I was the one carrying you most of the way here."

She stared at him. "I wasn't." She grunted with a blank expression. "Though I was perfectly capable of walking on my own."

"Hey you were injured!" The hanyou snorted turning his gaze away from her. "I couldn't let you start walking until we took care of it."

"Yeah but even when it was you still insisted on carrying me." Kagome reminded him causing him to jerk.

He snapped his glare at her with his cheeks heated up. "Well if you didn't want to be carried you should have said something!"
"I did."

Inuyasha jerked his head slightly reminding him that she indeed say that. He grunted with his glare still on her before quickly looking away from her. "Well excuse me for trying to take care of you!"

Kagome gasped softly surprised how much those words made her heart race. It had been a long time since somebody had even taken the chance to take care of her since her parents and Keade and it made her feel so warm inside. She smiled setting her fish on the ground and embraced her dog friend's neck.

"EH!?" Inuyasha yelped startled by her sudden action. He looked down at her with wide eyes as he felt his cheeks heat up more. "What are you doing!?"
She sighed pleasantly as she snuggled against him causing him to gulp feeling his insides do summersaults. "Thank you." He heard her say softly.

"F-For what?"

"For taking care of me." She responded sighing softly holding him tightly. "I really appreciate it." 'You have no idea how much I wished for someone to say something like that.'

Inuyasha gulped feeling his heart race as she snuggled into him. What was with him lately? He found his reaction to her very strange yet startling. He had never felt his heart beat this fast for anyone maiden, not even the ones that had flirted with him at his kingdom. The only time it ever raced like this was when he was training and fighting. So what made this any different?

A relieved sigh grasped his attention and turned his gaze down at the young priestess. "Kagome?" He found her sound asleep snuggling into his side using his abdomen as a pillow. He watched her as her chest rose up and down. 'Wow she fell asleep very quickly. Though I guess I can't blame her, a lot of things had happened to her today. She probably never got a good nights rest even when she had the barrier up around her hut.'

His gaze went soft as he watched her sleep. 'You can sleep well from now on Kagome.' He laid his head on the ground his eyes still on her. 'Because I'll protect you since I owe you a lot.' He closed his eyes. 'I'll keep an eye out for you.'


Sango sat in front of a campfire rubbing Kirara's fur staring at it blankly. She sighed. "It's already been hours since we left the village and we still have no sightings of Inuyasha."
Miroku sighed as he carried another load of sticks and logs towards the fire and set them down. He looked at her. "Well we knew it wasn't going to be an easy task finding him. We really have no idea of where he could have gone."

She stared up at him. "But we can't just keep wondering blind without any lead. We're looking like idiots doing that."

Miroku sat down across the small flames. "Well what choice do we have. The only idea I can think of is to search through all the villages and take a look at all the demonic energy that we happen to sense along the way."

"But Lord Miroku can we really afford to do that. That could take forever and I don't think we have that much time."

The young monk just sighed softly. "I'm sorry Lady Sango but I'm afraid that's the only thing we can do. We just have to hope that we can find him quickly."


Kagome stretched out her arms as they strolled down the dirt road. It was a brand new day and Inuyasha and Kagome had left their campsite once the sun had risen far enough in the sky so they could get some more miles in before stopping again.

She sighed pleasantly. "Man I can't remember the last time I slept that good."

Inuyasha glanced at her. "So I take it you've haven't slept much since you left your village?"

The young priestess looked down at him. "Yes you could say that. Ever since my family was killed I always had to watch my back, since I was the one that was left with the jewel. So no matter where I was I had to keep my guard up even when I was at my hut protected by those scrolls. I had to keep on guard because I knew there would be a day when one of those demons would manage to break through it, which obviously happened."

"So I'm guessing you slept good because you weren't by yourself?"

"Oh I don't think that was really the reason." Kagome assured him somewhat puzzled herself. "I hardly slept when I was with my aunt. So I don't know why you being with me had anything to do with it."

Inuyasha grumbled finding himself somewhat offended by her words. "Well maybe you hadn't slept was because you were still haunted by your family's death. I'm sure anyone at that age would have been haunted afterwards."

Kagome tilted her head taking in what he said into consideration. "Maybe."

Inuyasha just glanced at her watching her as she took out an old water container from her carpetbag. She took a sip only to pull it away. "Looks like we need to get some more water. We are practically almost out."
Inuyasha's ears perked up when the soft sound of rushing water reached his ears. He looked towards a stream that they had been walking beside for basically the whole trip. He moved his gaze back towards her. "We can stop for a bit but only to fill up that container."

She nodded. "That's fine." She then moved towards the stream with Inuyasha following close behind her.

He hopped onto a decent sized rock to lay down on while Kagome stepped into the stream to get more water. He laid his chin on the rock just as Kagome bent down to fill up the container and the young prince got a nice view of her rear.

He stared at it, which caused his insides to stir with risen desire. 'Wow she really has a nice one.' He subconsciously thought. That thought startled him immediately and gasped and quickly sat up on the rock and stared down at the grass with shocked wide eyes.

'What the hell!? Where the hell did that come from?' He shook his head as he groaned angrily. 'Damn I've been hanging around Miroku too much that his perverted habits are rubbing off on me.' He narrowed his gaze. 'I'll have to beat him when I reach the castle.'

"Alright Inuyasha." He heard Kagome say to him grasping his attention. He watched her as she turned to smile at him and at that moment the sun shined on the water which caused the light to shine on her.

Inuyasha gaped his jaw slightly opened in awe as the shine showed him how beautiful she was in the light. He stared with wide eyes. 'Whoa.' His insides stirred more with desire just at the sight of her.

She walked over by him smiling happily. "Let's get going."

Her voice snapped him out of his trance only to watch her as she began walking ahead of him. He grumbled and glared up at the sky. 'Okay what was up with that!? It was like the light did that on purpose!'

"Inuyasha?" He heard Kagome call out to him grasping his attention. She stared back at him in concern. "Are you coming?"

He grunted. "Yeah yeah." He hopped off of the rock and raced up beside her. "I was just determining whether it was going to be nice like this all day or not."

"Yeah it would be horrible if it decided to rain." Kagome replied.

"Well rain doesn't really bother me, it's more of the storms that I'm somewhat worried about." The young prince rephrased himself. "Since if it starts storming we really have no shelter."

"Ohhh yeah good point." The young priestess grimaced at his words. She looked over towards the trees. "And I don't think hiding under the trees would be a good choice."

"Unless you want to get crushed by a tree." The dog prince muttered out.

"Only an idiot would want to go and do that." She replied. "Unless they are really desperate to get out of the rain."

"Yeah." Inuyasha said roughly hoping to forget what he had just felt back at the stream. But it was proving to be difficult considering just being near her was still making his stomach stir with desire. 'Okay now I am getting extremely annoyed with this. I just hope this little whim passes soon or I won't be able to concentrate on fighting hardly anything.' He glanced up at the young miko. 'And I need my full concentration in order to protect her. So I can't afford to be letting these stupid whim feelings get in the way of my concentration.'


"Well father have you figured out how to get ourselves out of this mess?" Sesshoumaru asked his father bitterly sitting on a bench across from the old king.

Inutashio sighed continuing to tap his arms trying to figure out some sort of situation. He glanced around their cell and the dungeon. 'I don't think there'd be any loose brick considering we built these cells with very strong bricks that no demon can get through.' "I think our best bet is to try breaking that barrier."

"And how are do you suppose we do that father?" The eldest asked him roughly his gaze narrowed on his father. "Since I highly doubt Naraku would have loophole in his barrier."

Inutashio turned his gaze to meet his son's. "Well we have no choice but to try."

Sesshoumaru grumbled he couldn't help but agree with his father's suggestion. He then noticed his father dig his hand into the top of his kimono and pull out a stringed stone.

"Father?"

"But until then we are going to need some help on the outside walls to keep Naraku and his minions in line." Inutashio said holding out the stone as it began to shine dark blue.

Sesshoumaru nodded understanding what his father was getting at. He turned his gaze outside of the prison bars. 'I pray that you are alright Rin.'


Rin stared up at the blue sky with sadness still lingering in her gaze. 'Oh my dear Sesshoumaru I hope you are alright and staying strong like you always are.'

"Rin?"

"Mm?" She hummed as Izayoi's voice grasped her attention. "Oh." She said as she spotted the older woman stroll up to her with some washed up clothes. "Lady Izayoi."

Izayoi groaned sadly seeing the loneliness and worry in her step-daughter-in-law's gaze. "Miss him don't you."

Rin sighed sadly. "Yes I do. I've had him around so much that I just feel so empty without him."

The older woman looked at her sympathetically and rubbed her shoulder. "Same here. But I'm sure Inutashio and Sesshoumaru are fine, they are strong men. So I promise you they will get out of there alive. Just have some faith in them."

Rin nodded before walking pass her to go back to her duties that she had been given.

Izayoi sighed turning her gaze up to the sky. 'And I do hope that you are all right my darling along with Inuyasha as well. Lord Miroku Lady Sango I hope you find him soon.'


"Are sensing any demonic aura yet Lord Miroku?" Sango called back to Miroku as they rode on Kirara's back.

"Mmmm." Miroku hummed as he concentrated on the area and sighed in frustration. "No not yet."

Sango sighed revealing to him the frustration in her voice. "Well keep looking. We are bound to find at least one sooner or later."
"But this is strange Lady Sango." The young monk replied staring out towards the horizon puzzled. "Usually one would be able to sense one demon but…I haven't found none."
"Well maybe the demons are just moving around so fast that you can't sense them."

Miroku looked at her. "I highly doubt it."

The young demon slayer groaned at his answer and turned her attention back to the land below. "Mm?" She hummed when she noticed something on the ground below them. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Miroku asked her in slight concern.

Sango ignored him. "Kirara go down."

The huge demon cat nodded and went down to the thing that her master had spotted. Once she landed Sango quickly hopped off and walked up towards the thing she spotted. Miroku slowly got off staring at her still puzzled of what had gotten her so worked up about.

He heard her gap softly. "Lord Miroku." She spoke up as she picked up the object in her arms and turned to face him. "I think I found something."

Miroku noticed the object in her arms and gasped when he saw a pile of clothes. He took a step towards her not taking his eyes off of the pile. "Are those…"
"Yes these are the exact clothes that Inuyasha was wearing the day he disappeared." Sango answered him shocked with her discovery.

The young monk gasped at her assumption and had to agree they were the exact clothes that his best friend had been wearing the last time they had spoke to him.

"Then something tells me that he didn't run because he was afraid of the ceremony." Miroku told more himself than the young demon slayer.

"Then do you suppose that Naraku may have been the one that chased him out?" Sango questioned the young monk staring straight right at him.

Miroku tapped his chin thinking of could have happened to their friend. "Well what I think may have happened…" He raised his gaze to stare at hers'. "I think he may have gone out to get some air and maybe Naraku caught him off guard and attacked him."
Sango gasped staring at him with fear. "So then are you saying that he is dead!?"

He shook his head. "I really don't think Naraku killed him. Since even you have to admit Inuyasha, even off guard, wouldn't allow anyone to kill him."

"But then why is there only his clothes and sword left?" The young demon slayer questioned him desperately. "And we are dealing with an evil wizard may I remind you."
Miroku hummed trying to pull the pieces together. There could very well be a chance that Naraku could have finished off the young prince. But he refused to believe his friend would have been killed so easily. He didn't want to believe it, there just had to be another explanation for his disappearance.

He looked at Sango. "Can Kirara sniff scents?"

Sango stared at him oddly. "Why yes but her sense of smell isn't as strong as a dogs." She tilted her head with an arched brow. "Why?"

"Kirara?" Miroku said to the huge cat ignoring Sango's question. He strolled over to her. "Do you know Inuyasha's scent?"

Kirara nodded slightly. Sango gasped now understanding what the young monk was trying to do. "Then can you try sniffing it out?" She questioned her cat friend.

Kirara tilted her head at her master like she was more questioning herself than Sango and Miroku. She then brought her nose to the ground and began sniffing seeing and hoping that she could find the young lord's scent.

She made a noise when she surprisingly caught a hold of his scent and began following it. Miroku and Sango gasped taking the hint that she was able to find his scent.

'Yes!' Miroku cheered pumping his fist slightly in victory. 'We may have actually found ourselves a lead!'

Kirara stopped at the edge of the clearing and looked back at the monk and demon slayer. She tilted her head towards the trees. The two took that as a hint to hop on, they rushed up to her and got on and once they were on Kirara raced into the woods following the hanyou's scent.


"Look." Kagome spoke up catching the hanyou's attention as she pointed ahead of her. "A village."

Inuyasha followed her finger and grunted blankly. "Heh figured we would arrive in a village sooner or later." He looked up at her. "Do you want to stop there?"

"No I don't think so." She replied shaking her head slightly. "I only want to stop if I desperately need too and this time isn't one of them."

"Okay then." He replied staring back at the village. "Then we'll just keep going."

The young miko nodded before motioning towards the village with Inuyasha right beside her. They reached the village when the villagers were out walking around shopping which made it quite crowded.

"Wow it's pretty crowded here." Kagome pointed out finding herself quite shocked.

"Heh this is nothing. I've been to towns and villages that have been way more crowded than this one." Inuyasha snorted out not at all shocked by the crowd.

The young priestess looked down at him. "You've been in towns and villages before?"
Inuyasha jerked realization what he had just confessed to her. 'Damn it! Why can't I keep my mouth shut about that stuff for more than a day?' He sighed turning his gaze away from hers'. "I'll tell you more about it later."
Kagome blinked tilting her head. 'Now what's this all about? Could there maybe be a chance that my prediction about him was true?'

'Might as well confess to her but I won't do it here. I'll do it when we set camp for the night.' Inuyasha told himself caving in to the guilt he had been feeling about lying to the young miko.

Kagome opened her mouth to say something. "Oh what a beautiful young lady we have here."
"Huh?" She said as the voice grasped her attention. She met the eyes of a man looking to be at least two years older than she is. He stared at her with gleaming charming green eyes that could probably charm any woman.

"Oh hello." She greeted in a friendly manner paying attention to the uneasy feeling the man was giving her.

"My my out of all the young maidens I have seen and encountered I must say you are the fairest of them all."

Kagome chuckled weakly giving him a fake smile. "Why…thank you that's real nice of you to say so."
Inuyasha's face hardened growling softly getting the urge to pounce on the human. 'Okay what is this bastard up too?'

The man took notice of Inuyasha and closed his eyes smiling the hanyou. "And what…" He reopened his eyes only to gap when he finally got a look at him. He stared at Inuyasha oddly. "A…lovely dog you have."
The man's words only caused Inuyasha's growl to become harsher. The man cleared his throat regaining his happy composure before smiling at the young prince and reached his hand out to pet him. "What a good dog he…"

Before the man had the chance to pet him Inuyasha snapped at his hand causing the man to gasp sharply and quickly moved his hand away from his mouth.

Kagome glared at him and hissed sternly. "Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha returned the glare. 'Hey the bastard called me lovely! And was about to treat me like I really am a dog! I can't let him get away with something like that!'

The young miko sighed softly before bowing her head in apology. "I am so sorry. Inuyasha is a bit hostile towards others so please don't mind his behavior."

Inuyasha grumbled angrily. 'Hey the bastard deserved it.'

The man waved his hand reassuringly. "Oh it's quite alright. Not a lot of dogs like me very much."

The young prince grunted at that. 'Gee I wonder why.' He looked over towards Kagome whom he now noticed was glaring at him signaling him to knock it off. His only response to her was a grunt and turned his gaze away from her.

Kagome just shook her head as she straightened herself up and stared at the man in front of her. "Well I guess we should be going now." She looked at Inuyasha. "Come on Inuyasha let's keep going."

'Gladly.' Inuyasha thought bitterly tossing the man a glare before quickly following Kagome.

"Oh wait hold on!" The man called out to them.

Inuyasha growled noticing Kagome stopping which caused him to stop as well. He glared back at him. 'Great now what?'

The man appeared in front of Kagome now smiling with confidence that strangely made Kagome's stomach turn sickly. "Why don't I show you around the village? It could be fun."

"Uh I'd rather not." Kagome replied waving her hands in refusal.

"Oh but there is so much to see." The man went on. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side, she gasped at his sudden action.

Inuyasha flinched at the sight of it and his growl became harsher as his fur began to stand on end suddenly feeling very angry. 'Can't this guy just take a hint!?'

The man smiled seductively at the young miko. "I can show you so many things." He then leaned towards her ear and whispered. "And if you leave your mutt here I can show you much more."

Kagome gasped getting the message and quickly reacted. "Whoa whoa!" She began pushing him away from her. "Hold it!"
But before she could say anything else something rushed up and shoved the man away from her grasp.

"AH!" She heard the man yelp out in pain while hearing him getting knocked into something hard.

She gasped when she saw Inuyasha right in front of her separating her from the man. "Inuyasha!?"

"Bastard!" Inuyasha roared out ready to pounce on the man.

Kagome quickly reacted and grabbed a hold of the dog hanyou's neck. "No Inuyasha! Stop!"
Inuyasha felt her but he kept at it. "You fucking bastard! How dare you even suggest something like that!? Couldn't you even tell she doesn't want to go with you!? Anywhere!"
The man looked at him with wide shocked eyes he pointed at him. "Did…did you just…talk?"

"Of course I can talk you idiot!" Inuyasha continued to roar out. "If I couldn't I wouldn't be right in front of you snapping at you!"
His shouts caught the villagers' attention, which caused them to whisper silently which caused Kagome to panic slightly.

"Inuyasha! Knock it off!" Kagome ordered him loudly. "You are making a scene!"
"Not until I bite his head off!" Inuyasha growled out loudly. "He deserves to die!"
"Inuyasha no!" Kagome began to plead loudly. "Inuyasha!" Then from the corner of her eye she noticed his beaded necklace shine. She gasped and immediately shouted out. "Inuyasha sit!"
Inuyasha immediately stopped as he was slammed onto the ground. "GAH!" 'What the hell!?'

The young miko sighed in relief before meeting the man's shocked eyes and bowed quickly. "I am so sorry. He's not very good with handling his temper."

The man only stared at her with his mouth opened slightly astound of what had just happened.

Kagome then quickly turned towards the villagers and bowed her head. "I am so sorry for the rude disturbance. My friend has a tendency to do that."
That only made the crowd mutter among themselves. Kagome ignored them as she quickly grabbed Inuyasha. "Okay Inuyasha it's time to go."

The young prince only grumbled allowing her to help him up and walk with her out of the village figuring it was best not to challenge her at that moment.

"Did you see that?" One of the villagers whispered as they watched them leave.

"Yeah that must mean she was a priestess."

"But what was she doing with a violent creature like that dog?"

The villager shrugged. "Maybe she's trying to help it change its ways."


"Kagome!? What the hell was that about!?" Inuyasha yelled out glaring up at the young miko with dirt now on his white fur. "You told me that this necklace would not subdue me!"
"Hey I thought so too! But apparently I was mistaken." Kagome defended herself before narrowing her gaze at him. 'Though right now I'm glad I was mistaken. I guess Keade gave him one that can do both tasks.' "But forget about that! What was up with you back there!? That attack was totally unnecessary!"
"Hey I was just trying to get the creep off of you!"

"Well if you hadn't noticed I can take very good care of myself in that type of situation!" Kagome crossed her arms her gaze still firm and narrowed. "I was about to get him off of me when you did an unnecessary move!"
"Aw shut up! How was I suppose to know you were going to handle it!" Inuyasha defended himself with a stubborn snort immediately turning his gaze away from her.

"Well if you would have just relaxed and watched me closely you would have seen it!"
"Well screw me for trying to protect you!" Inuyasha shouted at her tossing his glare back at her. "With you having that jewel many demons could try tricky ways to get that jewel from you! Even if it means disguising themselves as humans!"

Kagome gasped as he pointed that out to him. She then looked at him thoughtfully. "But…I didn't feel any demonic aura around him."
"Well hey when they hide they are pretty damn good at it, especially when they are trying to get what they want!"

"Then did you sense that he was a demon?"

Inuyasha sighed lowering his gaze to the ground. "No he smelt human."

"So were you just being cautious?" Kagome questioned him as it started to make sense to her.

The young prince nodded as he raised his gaze up to her. "Yes I was. I know I went I little far but I had to do what I thought had to be done."

Kagome eyed him not too sure if he was really telling her to the truth. But sighed in defeat deciding to go along with his tale, if was really was telling her the truth.

"Well I really appreciate the extra cautiousness but next time will you just make sure he is a demon before brutally attacking the poor guy."

Inuyasha muttered roughly. "Can't make any promises."
Kagome just sighed as they continued to walk on.

Inuyasha looked down at the ground. He couldn't believe he actually lied to her yet again, but this time…he didn't have a specific reason why he brutally attacked the guy. He just made him extremely angry way angrier than any other person he had encountered, even Naraku. But why did he get so furious? He didn't know, but whatever made him furious he would have to make sure he wouldn't get that furious again.

'This better just be a whim or else I will end up getting subdued a lot more now that Kagome has accessed it.' He then grumbled. 'Oh this trip has just became really fun.'


END OF CHAPTER

-Sighs- Yes finally got this chapter done! Yes I know it is short…very short at that. But I just wanted to get this chapter up so you people would know that I'm still alive and still working on these stories. I've just been extremely busy with it now summer and all. But I promise you next chapter will be longer! Now the next chapter will be when Sango and Miroku get a little farther with finding Inuyasha while Kagome and Inuyasha haunt out a demon that has been terrorizing a village and what will happen…well you're just going to have to wait and see. I don't know when I'll update again but I promise it will be soon!

See ya next time!
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